Storm closes roads, downs trees and cuts power along O.C.’s coast
Friday’s rainstorm in Orange County — an occasionally intense downpour — closed roads and downed trees in Newport Beach and Laguna Beach and caused power outages in Huntington Beach and Costa Mesa.
In a 12-hour span through 2:42 p.m. Friday, Costa Mesa had received 1.22 inches of rain while Laguna Beach at Woodland Drive had logged 1.14 inches, Huntington Beach had 1.02 inches and Newport Coast had .67 inches, according to the County of Orange website.
Newport Beach city officials closed Back Bay Drive on Friday because of damage caused by the day’s rainstorm. The road, which travels along Upper Newport Bay’s eastern edge, experienced flooding, rockslides and fallen trees, said city spokeswoman Tara Finnigan. Much of the road is for use by pedestrians and cyclists only, though it has vehicle lanes in the southernmost portion between Shellmaker and Jamboree roads.
Back Bay Drive is closed until further notice, Finnigan said.
George Murdoch, Newport’s director of municipal operations, estimated there were 75 to 100 incidents of fallen trees or tree limbs in the city. No injuries were reported, according to city officials.
“City crews and a contractor’s crews are working throughout the city to clear the debris and will be out there for hours to come,” Finnigan said.
Fallen eucalyptus trees were reported in the 2100 block of San Joaquin Hills Road in Newport Beach.
James Creely, an employee at a business in that block, Uniregistry, said San Joaquin Hills Road was blocked for hours because of a fallen tree. Another tree severed the business’s water main and the office was flooded. Winds also threw open a roof door, which let water in, he said.
On the Balboa Peninsula, the storm damaged support wires to Balboa Pharmacy’s neon sign. The store’s owner, Mike Martin, said the sign likely dates back to at least the 1950s.
Martin said he is worried the sign could fall off in strong winds and will have it looked at by an expert Saturday.
“I hope we can save it,” he added.
As of 2:30 p.m. in Laguna Beach, police had closed the southbound South Coast Highway near Aliso Beach Park because a tree fell on the state highway, said Jordan Villwock, the city’s emergency operations coordinator. The highway reopened at about 4:30 pm.
Another tree fell across Seaview Street in Laguna, forcing authorities to close that road.
In Huntington Beach, a fallen tree downed power lines just before noon at Banning Avenue west of Brookhurst Street, causing a power outage that affected 2,798 Southern California Edison customers, company spokeswoman Mary Ann Milbourn said.
By 1:09 p.m., 213 customers were still without power.
Milbourn said crews were hoping to fully repair the damage by about 7:30 p.m.
In Costa Mesa, 1,425 Southern California Edison customers lost power for two hours Friday when a tree hit a power line near Pegasus Street and Santa Ana Avenue, company spokeswoman Sally Jeun said.
Trees downed power lines in several locations in Costa Mesa. As of 3:45 p.m., lines were still down at the intersection of East 20th Street and Tustin Avenue and near the 2200 block of Waterman Way — both on the city’s Eastside, according to fire Capt. Chris Coates.
Fire personnel will remain at both locations until Edison crews can arrive, Coates said.
At about 1:18 p.m., the department also responded an accident involving a vehicle sliding into a ditch at TeWinkle Park. No injuries were reported.
Coates said the department responded to about a dozen weather-related calls between 11 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.
“We encourage everybody to double your commute time, take your time and drive slow because the rain is not stopping,” he said. “We still have quite a few storms that are coming in and we just want to encourage eveyone to stay safe.”
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